2026 SUP World Championships recap: Rivera, Sánchez and Araki defend titles, Spain top the medal table
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- 2026-10-19T10:49:32+00:00
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- PaddleStats
Full competition results: ICF Stand Up Paddling World Championships - Sabaudia
Three world champions from Abu Dhabi successfully defended their open titles in Sabaudia. At the 2026 ICF SUP World Championships, Mariecarmen Rivera and Aarón Sánchez retained their technical race titles, while Shuri Araki won the men’s long distance again. Cecilia Pampinella and Vadim Korobov became sprint world champions, and Hungary’s Csillag Kocsis took the women’s long distance title. Spain led the medal table with 14 medals. Poland won two, both in the sprint: bronze for Hanna Kamińska in the open women’s event and silver for Małgorzata Cieplińska in the women’s 40+ category.
Five days, 436 races, 72 medals
Lago di Paola hosted 436 races from 14 to 18 October, with 828 athletes taking part. The field included paddlers representing 51 countries, as well as neutral athletes (AIN) and those competing under the Paddle Worldwide flag. World titles were awarded in three disciplines — the 100 m sprint, technical race and long distance — with separate men’s and women’s events in the open, junior, 40+ and 50+ categories.
The 24 championship finals yielded 72 medals: 25 gold, 23 silver and 24 bronze. The unusual split came after Germany’s Manuel Lauble and Argentina’s Lucas Correa tied for first in the men’s 40+ sprint, both clocking 25.80 seconds. Both were awarded gold, with no silver medal in that race.
2026 SUP World Championships medal table
| Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spain | 4 | 4 | 6 | 14 |
| Japan | 4 | 1 | 4 | 9 |
| Germany | 3 | 3 | 2 | 8 |
| Great Britain | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Czechia | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Hungary | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Canada | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 |
| Italy | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 |
| Netherlands | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
| France | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Puerto Rico | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Argentina | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Lithuania | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Romania | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Greece | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Poland | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Switzerland | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Portugal | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Kazakhstan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Peru | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| United States | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
The table covers the open, junior, 40+ and 50+ finals in the three championship disciplines. It excludes the children’s races and the additional inflatable and foil events. Athletes representing 21 countries won medals, with 14 countries claiming at least one gold.
Spain and Japan won four golds apiece, with Spain taking first place in the medal table on silver medals. Spain’s titles were shared between Sánchez, junior Bianca Toncelli and Laura Quetglas, who won twice in the women’s 40+ category. Japan also had three champions: Araki, double junior champion Tatsuma Nishikawa and junior Otono Hirata. Lauble accounted for all three of Germany’s golds.
2026 SUP world champions – full list
| Discipline and category | World champion | Country | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sprint 100 m – open women | Cecilia Pampinella | Italy | 28.69 s |
| Sprint 100 m – open men | Vadim Korobov | Lithuania | 23.31 s |
| Sprint 100 m – junior women | Pavlína Kaňková | Czechia | 30.14 s |
| Sprint 100 m – junior men | Matei Barbu | Romania | 23.74 s |
| Sprint 100 m – women 40+ | Petronella van Malsen | Netherlands | 34.44 s |
| Sprint 100 m – men 40+ | Manuel Lauble and Lucas Correa | Germany, Argentina | 25.80 s |
| Sprint 100 m – women 50+ | Ginnie Betts | Great Britain | 35.49 s |
| Sprint 100 m – men 50+ | Chris Stringer | Canada | 27.12 s |
| Technical race – open women | Mariecarmen Rivera | Puerto Rico | 5:04.28 |
| Technical race – open men | Aarón Sánchez | Spain | 4:37.39 |
| Technical race – junior women | Bianca Toncelli | Spain | 5:20.95 |
| Technical race – junior men | Tatsuma Nishikawa | Japan | 4:36.85 |
| Technical race – women 40+ | Laura Quetglas | Spain | 5:32.05 |
| Technical race – men 40+ | Manuel Lauble | Germany | 4:48.46 |
| Technical race – women 50+ | Kateřina Trdlová | Czechia | 5:44.05 |
| Technical race – men 50+ | Michael Fargier | France | 5:01.01 |
| Long distance – open women | Csillag Kocsis | Hungary | 1:10:55.71 |
| Long distance – open men | Shuri Araki | Japan | 1:04:55.82 |
| Long distance – junior women | Otono Hirata | Japan | 1:16:22.12 |
| Long distance – junior men | Tatsuma Nishikawa | Japan | 1:06:02.58 |
| Long distance – women 40+ | Laura Quetglas | Spain | 1:17:36.59 |
| Long distance – men 40+ | Manuel Lauble | Germany | 1:09:14.32 |
| Long distance – women 50+ | Ginnie Betts | Great Britain | 1:18:49.98 |
| Long distance – men 50+ | Gábor Szabó | Hungary | 1:11:09.72 |
Open women: three races, three different champions
Rivera arrived in Sabaudia as the reigning world champion in all three disciplines, having swept the sprint, technical race and long distance titles in Abu Dhabi in 2025. In Italy, she retained one of those crowns.
In Friday’s sprint, Pampinella beat Rivera by 0.21 seconds, winning in 28.69. Rivera took silver in 28.90 seconds, with Kamińska third in 28.96.
A day later, Rivera won the technical race in 5:04.28. Duna Gordillo finished second, 2.68 seconds behind, and Alba Alonso Frey took bronze, repeating the Abu Dhabi podium in the same order. Pampinella finished fourth, 0.76 seconds behind Alonso Frey.
Kocsis won Sunday’s long distance race in 1:10:55.71. Spain’s Esperanza Barreras took silver, 12.07 seconds behind, with Gordillo claiming bronze. Rivera finished fourth, 3.00 seconds off the podium, and just 17.47 seconds separated the top five. Kocsis had also posted the fastest time in Thursday’s open women’s technical heats (5:18.66) before finishing fifth in Saturday’s final.
Rivera was the only woman to finish in the top four in all three open finals. Gordillo collected silver and bronze, while Pampinella followed her sprint gold with fourth in the technical race and sixth in the long distance.
Open men: Araki and Sánchez repeat their Abu Dhabi result
Korobov won the sprint in 23.31 seconds, taking the title from Sergio Cantoral. The Spaniard finished second in 24.05, reversing last year’s result in Abu Dhabi, where he had beaten Korobov by just 0.07 seconds. Manuel Hoyuela took bronze.
Sánchez retained his technical race title in 4:37.39, finishing 6.13 seconds ahead of France’s Noïc Garioud. Connor Baxter of the United States took bronze, just 0.30 seconds ahead of Denmark’s Christian Andersen. Araki had set the fastest semi-final time (4:34.75) but finished seventh in the final.
The long distance race produced the same top two as last year. Araki won in 1:04:55.82, with Sánchez second, 12.35 seconds behind. In Abu Dhabi, the gap had been 3.26 seconds. Lluis Perotti took bronze, with Garioud fourth, a further 8.20 seconds back. Of the 90 starters, 85 finished, and just 43.27 seconds separated the top 11.
Sánchez was the only man to win medals in two open disciplines. Garioud finished in the top four of all three finals but came away with only one medal, technical race silver.
Two titles for Nishikawa, three for Lauble and two medals for Poland
Nishikawa defends both junior titles
Tatsuma Nishikawa repeated his Abu Dhabi double, winning the junior technical race and long distance titles. His technical final time of 4:36.85 was 0.54 seconds faster than Sánchez’s winning time in the open final, though the races took place at different times of day, limiting the value of a direct comparison. In the long distance, he finished 28.98 seconds ahead of Italy’s Gianluca Corriero.
Romania’s Matei Barbu won the junior sprint in 23.74 seconds. Germany’s Marlon Daskiran took silver in both the sprint and technical race, while Portugal’s Lourenço Viveiros claimed bronze in both events.
Each junior women's title went to a different athlete. Czechia's Pavlína Kaňková won the sprint, Toncelli the technical race and Hirata the long distance. Hirata also took bronze in the technical race.
Lauble sweeps the men’s 40+ titles
Lauble won all three men’s 40+ titles, adding technical gold to the sprint and long distance crowns he had won in Abu Dhabi. He shared sprint gold with Correa and won the technical race by 4.11 seconds ahead of Japan’s Ryohei Yoshida. In the long distance, the Netherlands’ Joep van Bakel finished second, 12.51 seconds behind the German. Yoshida reached the podium in all three events, collecting one silver and two bronzes.
In the women's 40+, Quetglas won two titles. Petronella van Malsen won the sprint and was runner-up to the Spaniard in the other two races.
Britain's Ginnie Betts won the women's 50+ sprint and long distance. The technical race went to Czechia's Kateřina Trdlová, with Betts second.
There was a different winner in each men’s 50+ event. Canada’s Chris Stringer won the sprint, while France’s Michael Fargier took technical gold, 0.34 seconds ahead of Germany’s Peter Weidert. Hungary’s Gábor Szabó won the long distance, which had 130 finishers — the most of any race at the championships. Canada’s Tommy Buday won three medals in the category: two silvers and a bronze.
Poland: two medals, both in the sprint
Poland entered 38 athletes in the championship events, of whom 35 raced, while ten Polish children took part in the youth events. Kamińska won open sprint bronze a year after taking junior bronze in Abu Dhabi. In the technical race, she finished fourth in her semi-final (5:30.83) and seventh in Final B. She did not enter the long distance.
Cieplińska followed her women’s 40+ sprint silver (34.90 seconds) with seventh in the technical final and ninth in the long distance (1:20:36.33).
Marta Apanasewicz won the open women’s technical Final B in 5:16.68. Her time was faster than those of the last three finishers in Final A, although the two finals were held separately. Lena Nowak finished eighth in the junior women’s long distance in 1:18:52.03.
In the children’s events, Mikołaj Miczek won bronze in the boys’ U15 long distance. Wiktor Jaroc and Maja Bauerek each finished fourth in both the sprint and long distance in their respective U15 categories.
Juniors post times to rival the open field
Two juniors posted times in Sabaudia comparable to those of the open front-runners. Barbu clocked 22.15 seconds in the sprint semi-finals, the fastest time in Friday’s conventional SUP sprint races, while Nishikawa’s winning time in the junior technical final was faster than the open winner’s.
Results from all 436 races are available on the 2026 ICF SUP World Championships page. You can also read our reports from day one’s sprint heats, day two’s technical heats and day three’s sprint finals. Our championships preview looked at Rivera’s bid to defend all three titles. Last year’s results are available on the Abu Dhabi World Championships page.
Frequently asked questions
Which country won the most medals at the 2026 SUP World Championships?
Spain won 14 medals: four gold, four silver and six bronze. Japan also won four golds, with nine medals in total. Germany finished third in the medal table, with all three of its golds won by Manuel Lauble.
Who are the 2026 open SUP world champions?
Sprint: Cecilia Pampinella (Italy) and Vadim Korobov (Lithuania). Technical race: Mariecarmen Rivera (Puerto Rico) and Aarón Sánchez (Spain). Long distance: Csillag Kocsis (Hungary) and Shuri Araki (Japan).
Did Mariecarmen Rivera defend her three titles from Abu Dhabi?
She retained one of her three titles, winning the technical race. She also took sprint silver and finished fourth in the long distance, 3.00 seconds off the podium.
Did Shuri Araki and Aarón Sánchez defend their titles?
Yes. Araki won the long distance again and Sánchez the technical race. In the long distance the top two were the same as in Abu Dhabi: Araki first, Sánchez second.
Did anyone win three gold medals in Sabaudia?
Yes, Germany's Manuel Lauble in the men's 40+. He won the sprint (in a dead heat with Lucas Correa), the technical race and the long distance.
How many medals did Poland win?
Poland won two medals in the championship events, both in the sprint: bronze for Hanna Kamińska in the open women’s event and silver for Małgorzata Cieplińska in the women’s 40+ category. Mikołaj Miczek also took bronze in the boys’ U15 long distance, which is not included in the championship medal table.
What distances were raced at the 2026 SUP World Championships?
The sprint was held over 100 m. The organiser’s final information bulletin listed the technical course as approximately 900 m and the long distance course as approximately 12 km.
Three open titles were successfully defended in Sabaudia, while the other three went to new champions. Spain won the most medals, and Lauble was the only athlete to take three golds. Hanna Kamińska reached the open podium a year after winning junior bronze. Full results are available on the 2026 ICF SUP World Championships page.